handsome cowboys and heineken beer.

I woke up insanely happy and just didn’t know what to do with myself… so I did what I do best, took a picture of myself on my computer. It’s crazy that I’m twenty-five… today… whoa.

And that… that is what I look like after a quarter century of living, breathing, running, loving, crying, dancing, singing, laughing, being. Awesome.

I was also insanely happy thinking about the night before. The lovely, lovely, way fun birthday BBQ we had in a local park. Evan and I counted 42 guests that we could keep track of… FORTY-TWO. Lordy, who knew? But I’m so so thankful for each of them and for all of them making for such an amazing celebration.

deluscious food made by evan!ah-mazing cake made by k$. like, seriously... awesome.cutting the cake.

There ended up being way more pictures of food than people on my camera. So, I’m totally banking on friends camera’s for pictures of the following:

• The most beautiful babies in the whole world meeting for the first time.

• Frisbee ridiculousness. [college called.]

• My amazing birthday lap dance [to lil’ wayne] by three handsome friends dressed as handsome cowboys… one of whom I had just met yesterday. [seriously, this was one of the most hilarious/ridiculous/amazing things that has ever happened to me… and don’t worry, there are tons of pictures… i remember many flashes.]

• The street soccer game.

• The unbelievable four square game INSIDE the Cadillac Bar… and me saying, “I fully expecting to have to bail friends out of jail on my birthday because they were playing four square in a bar… and I’m totally okay with that.”

• Good times, galore.

Such an amazing time. So so great.

And then this morning, talking to my dad…

– Happy Birthday, kid.

– Thanks, Daddy!

– I just went and bought a Heineken to celebrate you turning 25.

– Ha… Okay…

– Well, when your mom and I were in Amsterdam and she was pregnant with you, I made sure to visit the Heineken Brewery and smuggle a special bottle of Heineken back with me. I kept it and waited until the day you were born. Then on May 16th, I opened it and called my dad to tell him about you.

He totally caught me off guard. I started crying. I am so lucky to have so much love in my life. To have so much caring. To be so lucky to have it for twenty-five years straight. Straight. Loved every single day of breathing this life.